CONTROL OF COMMUNITY INFORMATION - AN ANALYSIS OF ROLES

Many formal and informal sources within a community disseminate commun ity information. People seek information from their peer-kin network, directly from service providers, and from intermediaries, such as libr aries and information and referral (I&R) agencies. I&R agencies specia lize in community information by maintaining an inventory of the area' s human services and disseminating that information to the public. Ano ther recently developed vehicle for this information is the online com munity network, an electronic environment where service providers can post information about their services and members of the public can th en access that information using a computer and modem. But the respect ive roles of I&R agencies and community networks are unclear: are they , in part or in whole, providing the same service or product? What are the implications for funding and data collection if they are? If not, what relationship, if any, should they have with each other? This stu dy explores the differences between I&R agencies and community network s from an information policy perspective and uses a framework proposed by Wilkinson (1992) to analyze the positioning of control within the two intermediaries under six facets: agency ownership and governance, funding, information flow, access, information ownership, and quality control. Existing community networks and I&R agencies are used as exam ples to illustrate the arguments.